Entice customers and increase sales with Publisher flyers

You just opened a store in a new location, or it is time for your annual holiday sale. Or maybe you received great new merchandise that you want to promote. Get the news out quickly to the right people by creating a flyer that you can mail, hand out, or post around town.

Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 includes predesigned flyer publications that are set up to provide information about news and special offers. By starting with a predesigned publication, you can focus on the content of your message as you create an effective promotional piece for your business.

Important: You must first be connected to the Internet before you search Office Online for templates.

Do one of the following:

In the Flyers catalog, click View templates from Microsoft Office Online, and then click one of the catalog headings, such as Event or Marketing.

In the Search for templates box, type a keyword. For example, type flyers. In the next box, select Microsoft Office Online, and then click the green Search button.

Note: The Search for templates box is above the Flyers heading.

Click the template that you want.

For this project, we chose the Flyer (soft blue) template with tear-offs from Office Online.

Choose the options that you want.

You can change many design elements before you open the publication. Do any of the following:

Under Customize, click the color scheme and font scheme that you want.

Under Customize, click the business information set that you want, or create a new one.

Under Options, select Include mailing address to add a second publication page with text boxes for mailing address and return address.

Under Options, select Include graphic to insert a placeholder picture in the flyer.

Note: This option is not available in all templates. If you don't see this option, the template may not support it.

Under Tear-offs, select the coupon or form that you want to add.

Note: This option is not available in all templates. If you don't see this option, the template may not support it.

Note: If you use a template that you downloaded from Office Online, you cannot customize the design until you open the publication.

Click Create.

Make global design changes

When you see your publication at full scale, you might want to make changes that affect the entire publication. For example, you might want to try other color or font schemes, change the page size, or insert your business information if you didn't do it at the start. You can make such changes at any time, but it is best to do it before you insert the text and pictures.

Do any of the following:

To try a different color scheme, click Color Schemes in the Format Publication task pane, and then click the color scheme that you want.

To try a different font scheme, click Font Schemes in the Format Publication task pane, and then click the font scheme that you want. For more information about font schemes, see Apply a font scheme.

To change the page size, click Publication type Options in the Format Publication task pane, click Change Page Size, and then in the Page Setup dialog box, select a new page size. For more information, see Change page size, paper size, or orientation.

To insert business information, click Business Information on the Insert menu, and then drag the item that you want from the Business Information task pane onto your publication page.

Work with the text

If you already created a business information set, your business contact information and logo will automatically replace some of the placeholder text.

Note: Business information does not automatically replace the placeholder text in templates that you downloaded from Office Online. To replace the placeholder names, addresses, and logos with your business information, click the smart tag button
for a business information item, such as the company name or address, and then click Update from Business Information Set. (The smart tag button appears when you click text or a logo.)

Select the placeholder text, and then type.

Adjust the text size. Do one of the following:

To prevent the text from resizing automatically to fit in a text box that is not connected to other text boxes, click the text box, point to AutoFit Text on the Format menu, and then click Do Not AutoFit.

To change the font size manually, select the text, and then choose a new font size from the Font Size list on the toolbar.

Work with the pictures

Right-click the placeholder picture, click Change Picture on the shortcut menu, and then choose the source of the new picture.

Tip: If you don't see Change Picture when you right-click, click the placeholder picture once until you see white circles surrounding the picture's frame. Click the picture again until you see gray circles with x's in them surrounding the picture itself, and then right-click the picture.

Refine the flyer

It is easy to add or change the design elements in a publication. Maybe you changed your mind about the contact tear-offs that you started with, and now you want to include a tear-off coupon, order form, or response form so that you can track the customer response to your flyer more easily.

You can add or replace the design elements by using the Publisher Design Gallery. You also can add design elements from the suggested objects in the Format Publication task pane. Or, if you are using a predesigned template in Publisher, you can use the Change Template command.

Use elements from the Design Gallery

To delete the contact tear-off object, select it, and then press DELETE.

On the Objects toolbar, click Design Gallery Object
, and then click the type of object that you want, such as Coupons.

Click the design that you want, select the graphic and text options that you want — for example, the style of border — and then click Insert Object.

Drag the object to the position where you want it on the page.

To replace the placeholder text in the added object, select the text in the text box, and then type the text that you want.

To replace the placeholder picture in the added object, click the picture frame in the logo, right-click the picture, click Change Picture on the shortcut menu, and then select the picture that you want.

Make any other changes that you want, and then save the file.

Use elements from the suggested objects

The suggested objects that are available for insertion in your publication vary according to the template that you use.

To delete the contact tear-off object, select it, and then press DELETE.

In the Format Publication task pane under Page Options, click one of the items under Suggested objects.

Change the template

In the Change Template dialog box under Options, choose a different Tear-offs option.

Make any other changes that you want, and then save the file.

Finish the flyer

If you plan to mail the flyer, you can prepare it for mailing and printing by merging the customer addresses into the publication.

Tip: If your addresses aren't in a data file, you can create a new address list in Office Publisher 2007. Point to Mailings and Catalogs on the Tools menu, and then click Create Address List. For more information about working with mailing lists and mail merge, see Create a mail merge.

To print the flyer, click Print on the File menu, make any needed changes to the printing options, such as the number of copies, and then click Print.

Tip: If you have more information than will fit on a flyer, create a brochure publication instead, and take advantage of more layout flexibility. A brochure can have a 3-panel or 4-panel design. It can include a customer address on one of the panels, and it can also include an order, response, or sign-up form. For more information, see Create brochures that help you sell in Publisher.